Park Life

11 October 2016

Tim Herbert

THE stage is set for a massive night of football in Plymouth, as the city’s two leading sides meet at Bolitho Park on Tuesday night.

Argyle take their side to Plymouth Parkway for one of the stand-out fixtures in Peninsula League football and we have the added ingredient of two sides competing at the top of the Premier Division, and Pilgrim connections plentiful at Parkway.

Under the new leadership of chairman Mark Russell, ambitions at Bolitho Park are to progress the club to the Western League. This has added pressure to the management and players, but also to the board, who have plenty of work to do off the pitch to help achieve the ambition.

Mark spent many hours during Plymouth Argyle's dark day of administration, helping the club to try and get back to the steady footings that they are now on, has always had the ambition to get involved in running a football club, and was regularly seen at argyle during the James Brent takeover, and while the club was in Admin speaking to managers, players and directors.

When the opportunity came up for Mark to get involved at Plymouth Parkway he was never going to turn it down.

Mark said: "I really enjoyed the involvement I had at Argyle and feel that I played a big part in helping the club progress and get back on to a level footing, and always want to see them do well. I genuinely hope that the first team can gain promotion this season.

“When the opportunity came up to get involved in Parkway and I sat down with the board, it was obvious that the club has the facility and local backing to progress through the leagues and hopefully one day be in a position to help PAFC by having some players on loan to get more game time at a competitive level.

“Over the last few months we have signed a few players that didn't quite make it at Argyle, who are playing a massive part in the current team, and hopefully will for many seasons to come.

"I am really hoping that we see a large crowd for the game on Tuesday as both teams will be looking to play good football and it should be a very entertaining game."

The game kicks off at 7.30pm at Bolitho Park, St Peters Road, and admission is £5 for Adults and £3 for concessions. Refreshments and a bar are available at the ground also.